30 Rock: "Cleveland"Review

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Liz and Floyd flee to the Cleve, while Tracy is targeted by The Black Crusaders.

By Robert Canning

"Cleveland" was by far the funniest, laugh-out-loud, near genius episode of 30 Rock this season. If you haven't seen it, find someone that still has it stored on their DVR. Go download it from iTunes. Build yourself a time machine and travel back to Thursday night at 9:00 and experience the comedic joy for yourself. There wasn't a moment wasted in the entire half hour, which not only gave us plenty of laughs, but it continued the ongoing storylines with fantastic pacing and ease.The episode was smartly told, with Liz Lemon near the center of all the action. Things begin with Liz and Floyd's relationship still as perfect as ever, with there even being talk of moving in together. That whole plan is thrown a curve ball when Floyd loses his promotion to Alan Garkle, a black man in a wheel chair (Jack: "Well played, Garkle."). Tired of the city and the rat race (an actual race with rats) he takes Liz to his hometown: Cleveland! Seeing Cleveland through Liz's eyes was hilarious. There she's a model, men are polite and you can have lunch with Little Richard. And the 30 Rock Cleveland theme song was classic: "New York and Paris just don't have/The sights you see on Euclid Ave." But this love affair with Cleveland was just a vacation high and Liz clearly knows she can't move there. Unfortunately, Floyd has accepted a job there. We knew their love wouldn't last forever, and "Cleveland" was a great episode to bring about the end.

Meanwhile, Jack wants Liz to get to know his new hollow-boned fiancé, Phoebe. Phoebe's been a great addition to the ensemble and she's given a dynamic portrayal by Emily Mortimer (Match Point, The Pink Panther). The girls' day out was great and gave us some long absent screen time with Jenna. Her small scenes were well utilized, delivering tipsy lines like, "I would have a three-way with two Jacks." Liz's distrust of Phoebe, her complete opposite, is a fun direction to take the story and we look forward to seeing what devious plot Liz will come up with to outsmart her new nemesis.But the best part of this episode by far was Tracy's paranoia over The Black Crusaders. The Black Crusaders are "a secret group of powerful black Americans" run by Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey (with help from others, including Gordon from Sesame Street) who set out to rid the world of African-Americans who make the race look bad. They tanked 50 Cent's movie, blew out Terrell Owens' ankle and canceled Eddie Murphy's Oscar because he ran out on Scary Spice. The whole thing was incredibly funny; made even funnier with Jack's reaction to hearing The Black Crusaders were involved.The episode puts an end to Liz's recent happiness in many, many ways. She now has numerous crises to deal with. 30 Rock has become a serialized sitcom and we're loving it. It hasn't gotten as extreme as, say, Soap, but it's getting there. In Soap announcer voice: Will Liz follow Floyd to Cleveland? Will Jack marry the possibly fake Brit Phoebe? Will Tracy escape the clutches of The Black Crusaders? Will America finally catch on and start watching this hilariously smart TV show? Tune in next week to find out.